Industry is an innovation accelerator based in Portland, Oregon. Our focus is to identify new opportunities and define what’s next. As one of five participants in The Bike Design Project, we set out with the vision of inspiring everyday people to cycle. Our focus has been placed on the experience a bike can deliver, rather than simply seeing the bike as a stand-alone object.

In terms of approach, we first took a look at what motivates a person to cycle. For example, everyone loves the freedom of two wheels and the joy of self-propelled movement. However, today there are many barriers, stigmas, and complexities that prevent people from cycling. In parallel, we dissected the DNA of a bike with our bike-building partner Ti Cycles, who have been crafting cycles for nearly 30 years.

Following this collaborative process of immersion and understanding, we quickly stripped down the idea of a bike to its essence, to reimagine the opportunity. At Industry, in order to design a meaningful product experience, we believe it is important to look at both functional and emotional benefits. We also believe that the core of any product experience is connecting people, design, and story.

Style: fitting into people’s lives seamlessly without complexity or barriers

Essence: removing what is not necessary and amplifying what is

During the first month of this project, we’ve been gathering inspiration and assessing materials and methods. We’ve collaborated with Ti Cycles in benchmarking the cycling landscape. Most importantly, we’ve begun concepting and prototyping. Design is not a linear process. We must stress-test ideas through rapid ideation and iterative prototyping. For our next move, we plan to ramp up phase two and get into integrating holistic bike concepts.